Download Policy Manual November 16, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc , add a comment
Klariti has released a new Policy Manual template.3. Prohibited Internet Usage Policy
4. Internet Usage Policy
5. Computer Usage Policy
6. Misuse of Computing Privileges Policy
7. Email Policy
8. Fraudulent Activities
9. Reporting Misconduct Policy
10. Remote Access Policy
11. Data Protection Policy
12. Salary Policy
13. Expenses Policy
14. Sick Leave Policy
15. Long Term Illness Policy
16. Maternity Leave Policy
17. Paternity Leave Policy
18. Compassionate Leave Policy
19. Jury Service Policy
20. Smoking Policy
21. Personal Appearance
22. Personal Property
23. Visitors Policy
24. Tidy Desk Policy
25. Welfare Policy
26. Housekeeping Facilities Policy
27. Hygiene Policy
28. Open Door Policy
29. Disciplinary Policy
30. Misconduct Policy
31. Gross Misconduct Policy
32. Grievance Policy
33. Equal Opportunities Policy
34. Harassment Policy
35. Sexual Harassment Policy
36. Training Policy
37. Health and Safety Policy
38. Fire Evacuation Procedure
39. First Aid Policy
40. Recruitment Policy
41. Promotion Policy
42. Medical Policy
43. Reference Checking Policy
44. Interviewing Policy
45. How to use this template
45.1. How to add your logo to the cover page
45.2. How to add your logo to the header
45.3. Updating the Table of Contents
45.4. Adding Notes
45.5. Adding Warnings
45.6. Adding Comments
45.7. Bullet Lists
45.8. Numbered List
45.9. Adding Code Samples
45.10. Samples Tables
46. Appendix A ?Reference Documents
47. Appendix B ?Glossary of Terms
2. General IT Policies3. Prohibited Internet Usage Policy4. Internet Usage Policy5. Computer Usage Policy6. Misuse of Computing Privileges Policy7. Email Policy8. Fraudulent Activities9. Reporting Misconduct Policy10. Remote Access Policy11. Data Protection Policy12. Salary Policy13. Expenses Policy14. Sick Leave Policy15. Long Term Illness Policy16. Maternity Leave Policy17. Paternity Leave Policy18. Compassionate Leave Policy19. Jury Service Policy20. Smoking Policy21. Personal Appearance22. Personal Property23. Visitors Policy24. Tidy Desk Policy25. Welfare Policy26. Housekeeping Facilities Policy27. Hygiene Policy28. Open Door Policy29. Disciplinary Policy30. Misconduct Policy31. Gross Misconduct Policy32. Grievance Policy33. Equal Opportunities Policy34. Harassment Policy35. Sexual Harassment Policy36. Training Policy37. Health and Safety Policy38. Fire Evacuation Procedure39. First Aid Policy40. Recruitment Policy41. Promotion Policy42. Medical Policy43. Reference Checking Policy44. Interviewing Policy45. How to use this template45.1. How to add your logo to the cover page45.2. How to add your logo to the header45.3. Updating the Table of Contents45.4. Adding Notes45.5. Adding Warnings45.6. Adding Comments45.7. Bullet Lists45.8. Numbered List45.9. Adding Code Samples45.10. Samples Tables46. Appendix A ?Reference Documents47. Appendix B ?Glossary of Terms
Advanced Business Writing Software November 13, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : downloads , add a comment
Designed specifically to address the business writing needs of managers, marketing and sales representatives, CorrectEnglish™ Business offers: TextSpeak recognizes and corrects online shorthand, such as texting, instant messaging, and e-mail acronyms, to ensure proper English use.
recognizes and corrects online shorthand, such as texting, instant messaging, and e-mail acronyms, to ensure proper English use. Advanced Word Choice Help analyzes sentences and identifies vague or overused words, and suggests alternatives that help writers sharpen their compositions.
analyzes sentences and identifies vague or overused words, and suggests alternatives that help writers sharpen their compositions. Cross-Lingual Grammar Feedback detects grammatical errors in seven languages, and provides explanations and suggests corrections for documents in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.
detects grammatical errors in seven languages, and provides explanations and suggests corrections for documents in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Document Formatting automates and validates document formatting, making papers more polished, and assuring they adhere to one of four standard publishing styles: American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), Council of Biology Editors (CBE), and Modern Language Association (MLA).
automates and validates document formatting, making papers more polished, and assuring they adhere to one of four standard publishing styles: American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), Council of Biology Editors (CBE), and Modern Language Association (MLA). Virtual Dictionary, Virtual Thesaurus, and Bilingual Dictionary provides definitions on demand, and suggests more effective words.
provides definitions on demand, and suggests more effective words. Microsoft® Integration creates a toolbar button for Microsoft Word and Outlook, which makes it possible to launch CorrectEnglish’s services with just one click. CorrectEnglish also supports any word processing program that uses Microsoft DOC or Adobe PDF file formats.
creates a toolbar button for Microsoft Word and Outlook, which makes it possible to launch CorrectEnglish’s services with just one click. CorrectEnglish also supports any word processing program that uses Microsoft DOC or Adobe PDF file formats. Customized Academic, Business, and Personal Editions address the unique requirements of different styles of writing. Academic Edition provides editing tools and style resources that help professors, researchers, and students create polished abstracts, essays, papers, and proposals. Business Edition strengthens corporate writing skills with instruction and models for drafting effective e-mails, memos, briefs, and business letters.
address the unique requirements of different styles of writing. Academic Edition provides editing tools and style resources that help professors, researchers, and students create polished abstracts, essays, papers, and proposals. Business Edition strengthens corporate writing skills with instruction and models for drafting effective e-mails, memos, briefs, and business letters.
Document Formatting Features and Help
Following standard formatting guidelines is simple. With just a click of your mouse, CorrectEnglish™ Academic provides help with basic document formatting so your papers look polished and adhere to your required style. CorrectEnglish™ covers basic document and page formatting according to four standard publishing styles:
- American Psychology Association (APA)
- Chicago Manual of Style
- Council of Biology Editors (CBE)
- Modern Language Association (MLA)
Read more at: http://www.correctenglish.com/features.html
Special Offer on User Guide Templates November 6, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc , add a comment
Klariti Template Design has released a very nice set of User Guide templates, complete with checklists.
They’re offering 4 templates for $9.99 until the end of the month.
Worth a look if you need to jazz up your template gallery or get some new ideas for your next set of user guides.
http://www.klariti.com/user-guide/index.shtml
Add Form and Surveys to your site October 31, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc , add a comment
The new service from FormSite lets you create HTML forms and web surveys using only your web browser.
You can design professional, non-branded, advertisement-free registration forms, secure order forms, and customer surveys in a few clicks. No download or installs.
All results are stored in its database and can be optionally downloaded or emailed. the site offers over 100 templates to get you started fast.
Get you free account here: http://formsite.com/
Automate Printing and PDFs for MS Office files October 31, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc , add a comment
BatchOutput for Microsoft Office applications automatically output multiple Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents to the selected printer.
With virtual PDF printers, such as Adobe PDF or CUPS-PDF, you can automate creation of PDF files.
You can also e-mail or fax multiple documents using such virtual printer as PageSender.
Download from http://www.zevrix.com/batchoutputoffice.html
Microsoft Word, Excel and Visio templates - Download for free October 26, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc , add a comment
Klariti has released some very nice Microsoft Word, Excel and Visio templates that you can download for free.
These templates can be used in the office, at home, and in school. File formats include Word, Visio and Excel.
FYI: You can download more templates at its templates shop.
This has templates for Software Development, White Papers, Case Studies, Proposals, Software Testing, SOPs and other templates you mind find useful.
Templates include Business Process, change Requests, Design Change forms, Expense Claim forms, site visit reports, QA templates, progress reports, style guides, resume update forms.
Take a look over here: http://www.klariti.com/free/templates.shtml
| Business Process Template | [PDF] | |
| Business Process Roadmap 101 | [PDF] | |
| Business Process Flow Diagram | [Visio] | Vertical |
| Business Process Flow Diagram | [Visio] | Horizontal |
| Business Approval Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
Change Request Form  |
[MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Contract Review Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Design Change Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Design Review Checklist | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Expenses Claim Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Fax Template | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Functional Model Review | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Installation Completion Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Meeting Agenda Template | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Meeting Minutes Template | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Progress Report |
[MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Proposal Plan Meeting | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Resume Update Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Site Visit Report | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Style Guidelines for White Papers | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| System Acceptance Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Test Record | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Training Course Evaluation Form | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
| Version Control Site History Record | [MS Word] | [PDF] |
9 Ways to Sharpen Your Web Site October 26, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Cool Tricks , add a commentDesign for Standard Screen Resolutions
Most users have their settings set to 600×800 pixels. If you design your site for screen resolutions wider than this you need to accommodate those who will not see the off-screen data. Remember that users get tired when surfing and will not click around a cramped design looking for content. They work with what is visible onscreen – if you place text off-screen you do so at your own peril.
Layout your text within the boundaries of the most common resolutions; user’s with high settings will not lose any data. If you do decide to place text off-screen, ensure that it is not critical data such as navigation menus.
Make it Appealing
During the pre-design stage it is recommended to gather benchmark sites that you can use as a reference. As you research your target audience, and do focus groups, begin to prepare prototypes that reflect their taste, age groups, business sectors and other relevant data. Be very careful of designing sites that flaunt convention – this often lead to ridicule by the public and press alike for their attempts to be innovative. Instead focus on giving the user what they want as effectively as possible, and make it attractive to view. Bells and Whistles seldom impress web users.
Test
After you have prepared the first prototypes — which can be simple mockups in PowerPoint or PhotoShop — ask you test groups to evaluate them based on open-ended questions. Don’t ask ‘do you like this?’ as most will just say Yes or No. Instead ask what do you like about this design and explore what they would like modified or altered. During this phase the Information Architect needs to listen and record the feedback and not endeavor to influence the test users opinion.
Ask them questions along the following lines:
• What is the site’s purpose based on this design?
• What do you notice first?
• What is your first actions i.e. hit this link
• Where would you go next?
• What feelings does it evoke?
• What do the icons mean? Few users ever understand non-standard icons.
• What kind of company does this represent?
• Does it remind you of another website? Maybe your designers have copied another site design.
Feed all this data back to the decision-makers in the design process. Grade the results by level of importance and highlight comments that were repeatedly made. Use this information for the next prototypes and continually reference it when designing.
Stay within Corporate Guidelines and Standard
Large corporations and smaller ones of course, spend considerable monies on developing their brands. Most will have developed corporate guidelines that outline how their logo, and all associated material, should be used in media publications.
Designers need to comply with these standards and build sites that incorporate them, rather than ignore the guidelines and design without making any considerations. Young, over-enthusiastic designers are frequently guilty of abusing or ignoring corporate guidelines that they see as boring and restrictive.
Maintain Consistency
The site design, incorporating both the graphical deign, color schemes and content layout should be consistent across all sections of the site. Many large portals will use different color schemes for different sections, but will ensure that the colors are all aligned with the overall color palette.
This can be achieved by developing an internal set of guidelines for the designers to refer to. This will outline how font usage, color control, text layout, navigation, downloads, plug-ins and other reference points. If designers do not have reference guides to refer to, then they will each design based on their own personal tastes.
It is important to establish a consistent visual identity throughout the site as this gives the site structure and helps user understand where they are in relation to other parts of the site.
Edit and Re-Edit
All aspects of the site design should be designed to support the primary goals of your web business. Though its fine to include attractive design components to enhance the visual appeal of the site, be careful that they do not detract from the goals that you have laid down.
Use graphics to enhance the user’s experience, not to distract them from the main site objectives. Excessive graphics will reduce the speed of pages downloading. Bearing in mind how hard it is for users to find your site in the first place, you do not want them to leave because of bloated graphics that deny them access to your valuable content. Users can’t buy what they cannot see.
Edit and re-edit your text until you have removed all that is superfluous and unnecessary. Users do not read ‘marketese’ – don’t insult them by writing in this vein. Write in an active voice and adopt a tine that is most appropriate. The more you can pare back the original text i.e. text from a newspaper, the more users will appreciate it. Offer them links to the fill article if they wish to read the complete article. Web users are flooded with data – they appreciated Editors who remove the fluff and offer them the essential information.
Highlight New or Modified Content
Frequent users, your most valuable commodity, need to be directed every time they return to your site. New and modified content needs to be flagged so that these users can quickly determine where the fresh content is located. Frequently this is at the top of the page hierarchy, however on fast-turning news sites, stories are archived quickly. These stories need to be easily accessible, as many users will seek to trawl through these lists.
Make it easy for users to see when you have added content; date every story. User should be able to go to new information without wasting time reviewing areas they have already seen. Many sites offer a “What’s New?” section to address this.
Avoid Scrolling
Users resent having to work to find content on your site. They run out of patience quickly and, once burned, will rarely return to the site. Each page should be clearly labeled with the subject matter well displayed. All essential navigation menus, visual cues and other devices should be within the boundary of their settings.
Images and tables that flow over the boundary of the visible screen resolution will cause a horizontal scrolling bar to display. Most users will resent having to struggle with this scroll bar and interpret this as lazy design or arrogance on the part of the designer’s i.e. our site is so brilliant you need to scroll all over to read it. Most wont and will take their clicks elsewhere.
Use the Inverse L
Users learn how to navigate sites by spending time on other websites. Most large-scale portals use the inverted model to display the main navigation and title bar. Onscreen this looks like an L turned upside down and inverted.
If you decide to design an alternative scheme remember that it means users have to get climateised to your site and then work their way around. This approach rarely is successful. Instead of forcing users to re-learn how to navigate offer them a familiar navigation menu that they will feel comfortable with. Don’t alienate your users with innovations. Users don’t want innovations; it’s your content that they are after. The Inverse L will help them to find this quickly.
By sticking to this structure users will feel comfortable on your site and therefore be more inclined to spend more time browsing your offerings. Most websites are not friendly to users. By making your site easy to access users will frequently return, safe in the knowledge that they will have a pleasant online experience
Why Passive Voice Is Ideal for Web Writing October 22, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc , add a comment
Passive voice is bad?
Well, not always it seems, especially when writing for the web.
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox highlights when to use passive voice “Active voice is best for most Web content, but using passive voice can let you front-load important keywords in headings, blurbs, and lead sentences. This enhances scannability and thus SEO effectiveness.”
Read more: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/passive-voice.htm
Opening Word Specific File Formats October 22, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Tips, downloads , add a comment
Q: I created Word files using a trial version of Word 2007. The trial period has expired and now I can’t open the files. Is there a way to open the files without having to buy the complete edition?
Hello,
It depends on the file format you saved them in. If you saved them as .doc files, you should be able to open them with MS Word.
However, if you used one of the Word-specific formats, I’d ask a friend to download the trial version, open the files and then resave them as .doc files.
You can also take a look at MS Office Live
This lets you:
- Access Word files from almost any computer with a Web browser
- Avoid having to use flash drives or sending yourself documents via e-mail
- Stop manually merging versions from multiple people
- Open and save files directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/fx102394081033.aspx
Opening at the END of a document October 22, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Cool Tricks , add a commentIf you want to go directly to the end of a Word document when its opens:
Press Ctrl+End
If you want to create a macro that does this automatixcally, add the following lines of code in the Autoopen macro:
Sub AutoOpen()
Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory
End Sub